Daisy could never have predicted how many Christmases she would be away from home when she booked her first flights to New Zealand on the old computer in her dad's study. The plan was to do some fruit picking, possibly work in a vineyard or two, a ski season in Queenstown and then home via Asia, taking in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and wherever else she still had the funds for.
She had had her arguments lined up like soldiers ready for battle, but to her utter surprise her parents were all for it. Go, they said. Enjoy yourself. You're only young once. With a backpack big enough to hold a small person in, they waved her off at London Heathrow two days after her twenty-third birthday.
***
Daisy sighed as she opened the small box of Christmas decorations she had accumulated over the years. Her mother had at least three times as much and still insisted on getting a real tree. Stu had bought them an artificial one, with the lights already woven into it, the first Christmas they spent together in their small Auckland house. Every year she pulled it out from under their double bed and decorated it, sipping mulled wine despite the outside temperature being around twenty degrees Celsius.She had met Stu in Queenstown six weeks before she was due to leave. She had been working as a ski instructor when she fell and pulled something that caused an excruciating pain in her back. He was also working the slopes that winter, and was finishing his physiotherapy degree the following year. Daisy went back to Auckland with him and never left.
***
This time of year she missed England the most. Cold days, long dark evenings, candles, roasted vegetables, mulled wine, hot chocolate, Christmas telly. But she had Stu, who she loved, and her little girl, Skylar. As long as they were here, this would be her home. ©2013 Laura Besley
Flash Fiction Diary
I wanted to write a piece on the theme of Christmas and as an expat living abroad (and not going home for Christmas this year...boo hoo), this is what I came up with.
Home is where you make it isn't it! Nice story.
ReplyDeleteIt is, indeed! :)
DeleteIs it okay that I smiled at the end of this? Not all of the load carried seemed so bad. Something quite pleasant could come it.
ReplyDeleteYou're right - it's certainly not a bad fate!
DeleteAlways torn between two countries.... sounds familiar. If only we could be in two places at once!
ReplyDeleteYes, if only...
Deleteif she'd made it to Cambodia, she wouldn't have had to celebrate Xmas any more! Nice story
ReplyDeletemarc nash
Thanks, Marc.
DeleteI found this quite touching. I considered becoming an expat for a long time, but have instead found myself still at home, with the love of my life and our 8-month-old son. So the tension between loving the life you're living and still feeling wistful for the parts you've left behind (for the time being) hits home for me. Lovely work!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much, Elizabeth. Yes, being torn is a factor of life, I think. Sounds like you've got a pretty good deal though - enjoy! :)
DeleteAw, this was very sweet!
ReplyDeleteThanks :)
DeleteHaving a home away from home is the best and worst thing sometimes. Perfectly captured in a snapshot of life abroad, well done Laura!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Chloe Dennis! :)
DeleteWhat a beautifully written story, really pulls at the heart strings.
ReplyDeleteI thought this line was an absolute belter:- "She had had her arguments lined up like soldiers ready for battle"
Thanks, Steve. I have to say, I was quite pleased with that line too! :)
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